MUMBAI:Mohit Saraf, a Mumbaibased IT analyst, couldn’t sleep at night. For two years he would wake up at one in the morning and be unable to drift off again. He became edgy at work, couldn’t keep up at meetings and found every request from customers more demanding than the previous one. Doctors put him on sleeping pills but that only brought temporary relief.

Stretched to breaking point, he knew he couldn’t go on like this. “I started crying in office for the smallest mistake, was depressed.” Then a search on the Internet led him to the International Institute of Sleep Sciences (IISS) in Thane. The diagnosis took time — Saraf, 40, had to maintain a diary of his sleeping habits for months and went through tests that monitored his sleep pattern. He was prescribed drugs and exercises based on these and, after a year of treatment, he can now sleep through the night happily.

Saraf is not alone. Sleep has become a commodity in urban India, thanks to factors ranging from long work hours, demanding corporate jobs and travel across global time zones to excessive use of technology, social media exposure and substance abuse.

“Increasingly patients are coming in from Nashik, Pune and other parts of the state besides Mumbai who say they cannot sleep,” said Nushafreen Irani, research coordinator at IISS. “Investment bankers, IT professionals, home makers and college students suffering from stress or addiction to gadgets have ruined their circadian rhythm and brought in delayed sleep syndrome.” This has led to the mushrooming of more than 300 sleep laboratories across the country in the last few years treating disorders such as circadian rhythm syndrome, delayed sleep phase and shift wake syndrome. All these prevent a person from getting agood night’s sleep. “We are evolving into a 24-hour society but we are not giving sleep the due importance it deserves,” said Preeti Devnani, clinical director at Mumbai-based Sleep Disorders Clinic. “Many factors contribute to our reduced total sleep time.” She recounted the case of a 28-year-old financial sector executive who had difficulty falling asleep — it would take him two-three hours to do so. He had difficulty being in time for work and felt tired through the day. At times he had to miss work as he was unable to get up on time. On weekends, he used to sleep until 4 in the evening. When he came to the sleep lab, he complained of experiencing a sense of dread when he woke up — he could not move his limbs but his mind would be alert. He also had hallucinations.

He was diagnosed with delayed sleep syndrome and was advised to use light therapy (exposure to artificial light) on waking in the morning along with medication and lifestyle changes. That seemed to do the trick--he’s sleeping much better now.

WIDESPREAD PHENOMENONSleep labs are doing brisk business in smaller towns as well. Rudraksh Snore and Sleep Centre, Jaipur, was started 10 years ago to deal with disorders such as sleep apnea, a condition in which breathing stops during sleep. There weren’t too many people visiting in the beginning. “Now it is four patients a week,” said Rajnish Sharma, owner of Rudraksh, adding that 70% of the cases stem from lifestyle choices. The patients include people from towns such as Ajmer and Jodhpur. Sharma plans to address clubs in small Rajasthan towns and speak to young working professionals about how stress can ruin their lives and that sleep disorders need to be addressed immediately.

AT WHAT COST?Doctors said sleep deficits can aggravate conditions like hypertension, diabetes, depression, obesity and other conditions besides reducing quality of life and productivity. However, those who treat such disorders need to be well trained. Treatment doesn’t come cheap — sleep labs generally charge Rs 600-1,000 per session while the various therapies cost extra. “What is of concern is that the physicians attached to these laboratories may not be well versed with the optimum care of these sleep disorders due to the lag of medical curriculum and limited exposure,” said Devnani of Sleep Disorders Clinic. Many employees are unable to unwind since there is no break between office and home as they work even while being stuck in traffic during long commutes.

“There has been a 20% increase every year in our patients for whom sleep has lost its priority,” said Himanshu Garg, founder director of Gurgaon-based Sleep Cure Solutions. According to him, not all patients suffer from sleep disorders because of lifestyle.

But he sees a rising trend of patients suffering from hyper insomnia, using excessive stimulants to stay awake and complete their work or keeping late nights to spend time with family. They suffer from excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) for which treatment includes joint spousal therapy, yoga and counselling by a sleep psychologist.